6 360 Production Tips You Won’t Want To Miss

We put together a list of 360 production tips that we’ve seen help turn branded 360° content into successful projects. Happy reading!

Understand your client’s objective

Is it to drive sales by showcasing a specific product? Drum up brand awareness through a more artistic rendering of the brand’s voice? Is it to drive virality?

Determine the metrics that your client cares about be it sales, brand lift, etc. This should inform how you’ll set the direction of your creative.

Consider your content’s length

Based on what your client’s objectives are, a full 5 minute VR video may not make sense.

If it’s to showcase a product, consider a shorter production that focuses on directing users to the brand’s desired CTA (be it clicking to buy the product or learning more on the brand’s website). If it’s a piece about brand voice, a longer narrative 360 production may make more sense.

Create cuts of your longer pieces to help maximize distribution. Viewers can always click-through to the longer experience.

Don’t overdirect, don’t underdirect

Some 360° videos don’t necessarily direct viewers down a particular path, but instead leave them to visually explore the environment on their own. Others provides a more directed experience, with visual cues and camera movement.

Each bring value, so it’s just a matter of deciding which makes the most sense for you. If you do decide to provide a more directed experience, be sure to include visual cues in the video to orient your viewer’s gaze.

Remember, you have no control over where they’re looking, so you need to pave the way.

Determine audience POV

360 production can involve truly immersive experience where the audience is in a first person point of view. This works for some content like a film trailer where a character serenades the audience…see below.

In other cases, allowing the audience to be in the third-person point of view, free to explore the action unfolding around them, can work just as well.

Edit with a light tough

Give space for audiences to explore without cutting quickly to the next scene. The experience can be jarring when on desktop, mobile, and especially in headset.